This can make DMing one, both in combat and roleplay, a challenge.
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What aspirations can you give to someone who has functional immortality?
Archlich Acererak by Tyler Jacobson
What personality and character traits can you give someone who eats souls?
Immortality and epic magic arepowerful means that deserve powerful ends.
This can also provide players with apersonal motivation to oppose the lich.
Eye of Vecna by Irina Nordsol
Goal
Description
Player Conflicts
Infinite Time
The classicmad scientist has more research projects than time.
Immortality by undeath gives an eternity to dedicate towards any and every task the lich chooses.
Conquest
Liches might use conquest as a means ofpre-emptive self-defenseor an extension of their ego.
Eye of Vecna by Irina Nordsol
A lich with theirphylactery held hostagemight even lead armies on behalf of a king or country.
Player Characters are normally thefirst responders when an evil wizard tries to take over the land.
Protecting Their Soul
A Warlock might achieve lichdom as aloophole to having sold their soul or afterlife.
Demilich from the Monster Manual via Wizards of the Coast
Collecting debts on behalf of a devilor fey is a seemingly simple quest.
Serving papers to a lich adds some spice.
An archlich is liable to be inflexible in ways that players will contest their methods.
A Harrowing Hunt by Domenico Cava
Phylacteries Should Represent The Lich’s Character
The phylactery iswhat distinguishes a lich from other undead.
The elaborate cage that traps andprotects their soul.
Therespawn pointif their skeleton gets pulverized.
The maw to which they feed the souls of the innocent.
Adventurers who loot the lichwill either be carrying or have sold off the concealed phylactery when the lich rejuvenates.
A lich can use magic aura to create a decoy phylactery andconceal their true one in a different location.
This lich thinks they are smarter than all the other wizards for remembering a second-level spell.
The phylactery must be corporeal
The phylactery must be both solid and corporeal.
Your lich can’t bind their soul to ariver of liquid mercury, vapor cloud, or ocean drop.
This lich is willing to put up with a lot ofdiscomfort and inconvenience in exchange for security.
This lich is confident in their indestructibility, to the point thatthey can openly display their phylactery.
One phylactery per soul
The standard rule is a lich can only have one phylactery.
There is aNetherese version of the spell that allows a lich to create several.
Aumvor’s Fragmented Phylactery is named after the lich who crafted the spell.
They ended up with atotal of 206 phylacteries scattered across their realm.
Any caster capable of breaking the one phylactery rule is going towield other pre-spellplague magics.
Weaponizethe preconception that spellcasters are weak in close quartersor that wearing skulls is purely an aesthetic choice.
Diverse Bodytypes
A lich might start experimenting on makingcreatures that would be impractical or impossible if still living.
Terrify the Soulsbourne veterans in your group by havingwheel skeletons in the lich’s army.
This is also a way tocatch off-guard any players who have memorized the fifth edition spell list.
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